NiGHTmares to Dreams
by Ballira
Summary: This is a Reala x Visitor story. Long story short Wizeman has always been trying to take over the waking world. He sends Reala after someone who just might be of use: A visitor that seems to haunt the Nightmarish land... and doesn't leave. M FOR MUCH LATER
1. Chapter 1

"At least you completed your task this time." The evil wizard growled as he towered over Reala. One of the six hands that hovered about the massive frame of the feared god of Nightmares moved closer, slowly circling the Nightmaren that knelt before him. "I trust there were no troubles bringing her here?" Of course, the implication that a mere human Visitor would give the second-in-command Nightmaren any trouble at all was a shot at his performance of late. Especially concerning a certain traitor.

"None at all, Master Wizeman. I believe she'll be shaped rather easily. The girl was more than compliant to come." Reala said, still kneeling in front of the cloaked figure. "Is there any other way I may be of service to you?" Of course, the Jester expected the usual scoff before being sent off to do as he pleased. Which normally meant brooding over ways he could torment some other creature. That was certainly not what happened.

The being turned its back on Reala, keeping the one hand hovering around him. "When the Visitor comes out of her meditative state, she's yours to look after."

Look after? Wait a second, did he just get 'promoted' to babysitter?! No! That couldn't be right. That's right, he just misunderstood him. After all, Wizeman wouldn't have him, his most trusted of creations, drop everything simply to keep a mere human from hurting themselves.... Would he? '"I-I beg your pardon, Master? To look after? Shouldn't a more.... suitable Nightmaren be teaching her-"

"Are you saying that you, a Nightmaren of the highest levels, are weak, Reala?" The hand began to slowly close on the Jester, the purple eye glowing ever brighter in anger as it threatened to close around him. Even the usually dim throne room within the temple began to go red. "Perhaps I should work on making stronger disciples, then."

"No, Master Wizeman! I would do no such thing! Your wish is my command, as always. I was simply.... curious. Why me? After all, you already have me looking for NiGHT's weak point. Surely that would place the risk of being lost to the other half on the Visitor." Excuses, excuses. The truth was, Reala was more interested in taking down NiGHTS rather than playing baby sitter.

"Yes. And I see you've made the same amount of progress as you have when the orders were originally given. You are to follow orders as I make them without question. Remember that, Reala." Slowly, Wizeman turned his bulking frame to the floating figure resting on a bed of red light. "Keep her away from the other half of Nightopia. Those are your new orders. Is that understood?"

Yes, it was understood, but it didn't sit well with Reala. This was infuriating. He wanted nothing more than to continue to torture NiGHTS in any way he could think of, not play a baby sitter. What next? Was he expected to start cleaning up after the lower level Nightmarens as well, now? Oh, this Visitor, needed or not, was certainly not going to have a pleasant experience with him. When she awoke.... No, why wait until then? The second Wizeman's back was turned, he was going to-

"REALA!!!!"

Snapped back to what was currently at hand, he realized the five story high wizard had just said something. "Yes, Master. Of course. Please, forgive me. I'll make sure the Visitor stays safely within your control." And I'll make sure she's screaming for merciful death by the time I finish with her! He thought bitterly.

"You'd better. Or else I'll do to you what I have been planning to do to NiGHTS." And with that, the being was gone, off to continue with the next step in his plans. This left Reala alone with the 'sleeping' Visitor, the red bed of light ensuring she'd return to that specific spot the the second she was asleep in the waking world.

Slowly, Reala floated up with arms crossed over his chest, glaring down at her. How smug she seemed. Mess with his place by Wizeman's side, will she? Well. We'll just have to see about that! "Rest while you can, Visitor. When you return, your new life here is going to be HELL!"


	2. Chapter 2

How long was she going to sleep? It had been far too long already! Reala was bored after having discovered that the strange bed the young woman slept on prevented him from so much as hovering a hand over her. So he simply had to wait for the little wench to wake.

The Nightmaren looked back at the strange thing. She wore a nightgown that came well to her ankles with sleeves that came all the way to her hands. Oddly enough her hair was white, though it was odd since she didn't look terribly old. Didn't only the old ones of her world have white hair? And that skin was a creepy pale color to go with it. Disgusting. And she was too light for her size. That he noticed when he had carried her in.

Unless she was one of those strange humans obsessed with their weight. If that was the case he had more fodder for her torment. Perhaps he'd cut that long white hair of her's when she wasn't paying attention. It was too long, anyway. What use did any human have of having hair that came so far down their backs? It wasn't like they could control it and MAKE it useful. And what about-

The young woman was shifting! She was waking up!

"Finally." Reala grumbled as he stood and floated over to loom over her, arms crossed as he scowled at her. "Hey. Get up. You've slept enough."

Without warning, one hand shot up, grabbing him by the front of his vest as her eyes shot open. Dear god, those eyes! They were horrible! Two different colors, of blue and green, but both so cold! It was almost as creepy as looking at Wizeman's!

Naturally, Reala put up a good front. He gritted his teeth and continue to glare at her, not letting on just how unnerving this was. "Let. Go. Now."

There was a pause. She didn't seem to quite register what was happening. Of course, after another few moments it was found out that she had understood and simply chose not to as she promptly flung Reala over herself and into a nearby pillar.

Reala just barely had enough time to put out his hands and bounce back, quickly turning around to glare at the girl. "You're going to pay for that you little- STOP! GET BACK HERE!"

The young woman was running already towards one of the edges of the rooms. Reala wasn't terribly worried. After all, this room was little more than a podium surrounded by darkness.

As she ran to one of the sides of the room she would skid to a stop, looking down and then back at Reala, who casually walked floated towards her. She wasted no time in checking all the edges of the room, yet her facial expression never seemed to change.

"There's nowhere to run, woman." Reala said with a cocky smirk. "Now why don't you be a good girl and come here? If you listen, maybe I won't punish you as badly for that little misbehavior."

The young woman, still at the edge of the room looked between him and the darkness below. There was no choice. She would simply have to do it.

Reala's cocky little smirk was quickly wiped away as she did it. The crazy little bitch actually jumped! She actually launched herself off the edge and into the darkness below! What was she thinking!? Wizeman was going to kill him if he lost her!

Quickly he darted after her, speeding into the darkness below. Once she was in the miasma it was hard to tell just how far away from him she was. Of course, he could just let her fall. It wasn't like she would hit anything. She would simply continue to fall for until she woke up in her own world. While an amusing idea and a fitting punishment he knew he had to get her back now before Wizeman knew just what had happened.

There! He could see her! He flew in close and darted under her, catching her bridal style and starting to float up once more. There was a cage with her name on it in the floating citadel!

It didn't help that she was fighting him and actually had the nerve to PUNCH him in the face! Of course this made him drop her once more while infuriating him at the same time. Glaring as he held his nose, he would dart after her once more, this time scooping her up as little more than a sack thrown over his shoulder. Now he simply ignored her thrashing as he floated up and out of the miasma, away from Wizeman's throne room and back towards one of the man doors surrounding the place.

The door he headed through was that of an ice cold world filled with a snow that a blizzard blew about. An icy citadel was before them, just the place he was looking for. Fellow nightmaren who saw him coming lowered the icy gate for him to enter, jumping out of his way as he headed straight for the main building to go down into the frozen caverns below. Cells lined the walls, some even occupied with scared nightopians while some had beasts from the nightopian, world locked up for future plans.

Reala would stop in front of one of the empty cells and glare at a nearby guard. "Open it. NOW!"

Jumping to attention, the odd little nightmaren would toddle over as quickly as it could to unlock the cell door for him.

Reala would roughly toss the young woman into the cell and kick the door shut. "You are more trouble than you're worth. My advice to you is this, girl: Keep off my bad side. No one survives there for very long. Not Nightopians, not Nightmaren, not even disgusting Visitors like yourself." Reala would straighten and smooth out his clothing as he took a deep, calming breath. "I'll return once you've sorted yourself out."

The woman, however, simply sat there, feet splayed to the sides and knees together as she sat up and stared at him with those cold, unnerving eyes. There wasn't anger, resentment, fear, not even sadness on her face. Nothing! Something was seriously wrong with her and Reala didn't like it one bit.

He would turn his attention to the guard, who looked more than a little confused. "Keep an eye on her and don't let anyone near her cell for ANY reason. Is that clear?"

The little nightmaren would salute him to show his understanding but do nothing more. Reala would toss one last glare at the woman only to see she had since turned those cold eyes onto the guard, who slowly turned and stared back. A visible shiver ran down the little nightmaren's spine, which got Reala to thinking as he turned away. Perhaps there was more to this human than he first thought. Certainly with enough training she might do well enou-

"ACK! HELP!" The little Nightmaren squeaked out as he flailed. The woman was against the bars of the cell, an arm through and hooked around the Nightmaren's neck as she strangled him, looking down her nose at him.

Reala rubbed the bridge of his nose. Didn't anyone listen? He moved in and glared once more at her. "Release him, wench."

The woman would look up to him and, just as casually, she would yank hard, causing an audible snap to echo out as the nightmaren went limp. Only then did she slowly released the guard and sit back onto her knees heels

Even Reala was shocked at this display. Did she just... Did she REALLY just kill?! What was WRONG with this woman?! Still, Reala had to keep calm. He looked around at the trembling Nightmaren guards, all staring wide eyed at the limp thing on the floor. "Let this be a lesson to you all. When I say something you do it. Now take this one back to Wizeman. He'll do... Well, I'm sure he'll do SOMETHING with him..."

In all honesty he didn't know WHAT Wizeman might do with the guard. At first he thought possibly revive him. But at the same time, he never actually saw a Nightmaren DIE before. Sure, some may have been defeated but no one has ever actually died!

His attention returned to the young woman who looked right back at him. He wanted to scream at her to stop looking at him, to tear out her eyes, anything to get that cold gaze off of him! All he could do for now was leave. There wasn't a chance he would lower himself to mere hysterics. He was far too strong for that.

If only he knew of what was to come, though. After all, the random act of homicidal violence from the girl was more than just that. Casually, she would turn her hands over in her lap and glance at the key she had stolen off the guard. Then she would tuck it under herself and simply sit and wait. She had all the time in the world.


	3. Chapter 3

It was another night. Already Reala was dreading it as he paced back and forth beside the glowing red bed that drew that _wench _back to this place. At least it SHOULD have drawn her back when she went to bed. Don't visitors need regular sleep? That's what Reala had always thought. Yet, there he stood, waiting without any sign of her.

Not that he was looking FORWARD to dealing with the woman. After yesterday's fiasco he could already tell it was going to be one long night. Hopefully there wouldn't be any more fatalities….

Just then a familiar Nightmaren came toddling in as fast as he could manage, huffing and puffing along the way. It was one of the guards form the icy citadel that he had locked the woman in until she left. He looked…. Worried.

"Sir!" He started, saluting him. "The prisoner! She's escaped!"

"Of course she has you fool. She's a visitor. They vanish when they awaken in their natural world." Reala growled.

"No, sir, I don't mean like that! She didn't just go POOF!" He threw his arms in the air and wiggled his fingers to exaggerate the word 'poof', "I mean she unlocked her cell door, wreaked havoc on the citadel and ran off into the snow!"

"What?" Reala loomed over the tiny Nightmaren, "How long ago?"

"An hour ago, sir!"

A hour ago? That wasn't possible. When Visitors woke up in their own world they left the Nightmare realm or Nightopia all together and returned through the Gates in Nightopia. For her she would have returned to Wizeman's throne room due to the sleeping holder. "Did she vanish at all during her stay? As in she just disappeared?"

"No, sir! Not at all! Just when she broke out of her cell!"

Reala rubbed his chin as he thought aloud, "Interesting. That means she never woke up to begin with…. I think I'm starting to see Wizeman's interest in her after all." He returned his gaze to the terrified Nightmaren. "Gather the Fliers and find her. I want her brought back."

The Nightmaren saluted him again with a, "Yes, sir! Right away!" Before hurrying off to gather Nightmaren to form a search party.

_This entire thing is turning into a nightmare. _Reala thought to himself as he covered his face with one hand and shook his head. After a minute he realized the irony of that thought and lightly smirked. "Perhaps this is, indeed, the reason for keeping her."

For now he had to go find her as well. And when he did he was going to drop her off into her very own nightmare to see if THAT would get her to behave for more than five minutes!

Just as he went to leave, though, a snicker echoed through the room. "Looks like Reala is in biiiiig trouble!" Came an annoyingly familiar high pitched voice.

How Reala hated that voice. He hated it almost as much as he hated the owner of that voice. "Go away, Jackal. I haven't the time or the patience to deal with you today." Reala hissed as he continued to walk away from the figure that formed behind him.

"Aaww, that's just plain RUDE, Reala! When I came ALL the way here to see you myself." Jackal said with that ever present grin.

"Then take yourself all the way _back _to where you came from."

"Okaaayyy! I guess I'll just play with the little visitor by myself!" He said, starting to float up. He stopped, being yanked a bit as a fringe of his cape was caught by Reala.

Reala had simply stopped walking, grabbing it without even looking. "What. Visitor?"

Bait, line and hook! Jackal giggled a little and replied, "Why, the pretty little snow angel I caught! That's what Visitor!"

Reala would slowly look up to Jackal, eyes on fire. "White hair? Sickly pale skin? Left eye blue, right eye green?"

"Yup, yup! That's the one!"

Taking deep breaths, Reala resisted the urge to fling the disrespectful Nightmaren into the floor. It wouldn't do any good. He'd just break apart and start bouncing his head and giggling about it, just like the last time. "Give her to me, Jackal. She's my charge."

"Really? That's funny! Because she was aaallll by her lonely little self out in the snow, and poorly dressed for it, too!"

"Jackal, I swear, if you don't give her back to me-" Jackal yanked away from Reala an flew about in circles with a giggle. "You'll get her back when I'm done! Well, maybe when the others are done. She's one tough nut to crack!"

Others? Oh, sweet Nightmares, what's going on? "Others? What others? What are you doing to her?"

"Trying to frighten her, of course! Drive her nuts until she wakes up! There's even a betting pool if ya wanna cash in on it." Jackal said proudly.

"No, I don't want to cash in on anything. If I have to take her by force, I will." Reala floated up, hands at the ready to grab at the nuisance. He was desperate to get her back before Wizeman found out just what was going on. Now that he knew just what death was, he was determined to avoid such a fate.

"Easy! If you want a turn you'll have to go talk to Puffy. She's got her right now."

Puffy? Of course, it would have to be Puffy. That overgrown beach ball was the second least favorite to deal with, always flicking her rabbit ears at him, puffing her lips, trying to pull him into a hug every chance she had. Reala visibly shivered, causing Jackal to giggle in response.

"Don't worry. I don't think Puffy can break her. She survived me and Gillwing, after all!'

Without waiting for another word, Reala was off. If she was with Puffy now then he knew exactly where the human was! He just hoped he could get there before the other Nightmaren did too much damage! Not that he cared for her safety. If anything, she needed to be taught a lesson. It was Wizeman that had him concerned.


End file.
